Here is another comparison image of operations at Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

Here, again, is the Copernicus image of the port container terminal.

ICEYE

And here is the 0.55-meter resolution image from ICEYE.

ICEYE

A Finnish company named ICEYE that is building a constellation of satellites to create synthetic images of the Earth's surface says it has taken the first sub-1 meter resolution photos of the planet with a small satellite. The images show significant detail of crude oil being loaded onto and off of tankers.

According to ICEYE co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Pekka Laurila, since its founding in 2015 ICEYE has raised about $65 million, expanded to 120 employees, and most recently has launched three of its mini-refrigerator-sized satellites into low-Earth orbit.

Further Reading

For the first three years ICEYE focused on technology development, and its first payload launch occurred in January 2018 on board India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. Since then ICEYE has launched two more satellites and plans to add another two by the end of this year. "It is fair to say that we are moving into commercial operations, and the scope of those commercial services are rapidly increasing," Laurila said in an interview with Ars.

In contrast to the optical instruments used by most of the existing Earth-focused imaging satellites, ICEYE uses synthetic-aperture radar technology. Its 100kg satellites use the motion of a radar antenna, combined with the time the device travels over a target, to create multi-dimensional images of the surface even through clouds, during day or night. The "synthetic" part of the antenna is due to the fact that a small antenna moving over a large distance can effectively mimic the resolution of a much larger antenna.

Seeing results

Laurila explained that with just a single satellite in early 2019, the company was able to provide monitoring of the Brumadinho dam failure in southeastern Brazil, which killed 248 people. Despite the often-cloudy skies over Brazil, the ICEYE satellite could monitor the progress of mud flows caused by the dam breach.

For these newest images of container terminal port operations, ICEYE wanted to demonstrate its high-resolution capabilities. Looking at ports in Nigeria, Australia, and elsewhere, the company was able to acquire and process images at up to 0.55-meter resolution, distinguishing details about the loading of crude oil and individual vessels. This kind of information is useful for independent estimates of oil reserves around the world.

Originally, the company planned to focus on ice monitoring in the Arctic for shipping and scientific purposes—hence the name ICEYE—but it has since branched out into a number of different applications, from the oil and gas industry to providing situation awareness for people on the ground during dynamic events such as the Brumadinho dam collapse. Further applications may reveal themselves when the company has a full constellation of five satellites operating in early 2020, Laurila said.

sweet, when is the pass over Area 51 coming? so we know where all the landmines are buried?

Nah, nothing will stop the storm Seriously, is this still a thing?

Seriously? No. As a joke? For another few weeks, yes.

Although apparently becoming serious enough that there's been pictures or short videos on Twitter of somewhere having to do briefings to security/military about whatever that "event" is. First I heard of it was when a friend showed me that on their phone.

I'm impressed by the technology, I'm not impressed with the results, at least as it would apply to my work.

In New Jersey, we're licensing EagleView‎'s "Pictometry" for regulatory work. (Isometric views from 4 directions taken from low level flyovers.) In addition we do State contracts for periodic natural and infrared Statewide flyovers at 1ft. resolution. We also are processing LIDAR flyovers periodically.

sweet, when is the pass over Area 51 coming? so we know where all the landmines are buried?

Nah, nothing will stop the storm Seriously, is this still a thing?

Seriously? No. As a joke? For another few weeks, yes.

Although apparently becoming serious enough that there's been pictures or short videos on Twitter of somewhere having to do briefings to security/military about whatever that "event" is. First I heard of it was when a friend showed me that on their phone.

The military would be utterly stupid to not at least consider reactions to the threat of some group--however amorphous--invading a base. If nothing else, it helps avoid some guard panicking and opening fire.

A little planning can go a long way. Maybe even as simple as beefing up the guard contingent and issuing less-lethal gear to the extras.

I suspect it will boil down to a couple or three dozen people intending to charge the base, and several dozen news crews and random people there to see what happens.

sweet, when is the pass over Area 51 coming? so we know where all the landmines are buried?

On a serious note, would sufficient advances of this technology allow for land mine detection? This could seriously change the world if possible. There is still an incredible amount of live land mines throughout the world, including developed countries in Europe.

sweet, when is the pass over Area 51 coming? so we know where all the landmines are buried?

I doubt there are landmines but those would still be the least of your worries. I would be more concerned with ground guided radar on the perimeter backed by trigger happy rapid response squads with bite happy attack dogs.

Starlink is totally unrelated -- they're trying to provide communications to a wide swath of the globe, while ICEYE is doing imaging. Do Starlink sats even have observation equipment?

Probably not yet, but on current plans they have a potentially flexible orbital platform that no one else except maybe Blue Origin will be able to touch for cost. Which is why I mention their power budget and development priorities - if they have the power and space and get inter-satellite communications nailed (which is definitely on their plan) why not put a downwards facing camera on there?

It's the same way that small company building a useful online tool can get steamrolled by Google or Microsoft who already have the scaled platform to build on.

I wonder what the swath width capability is. Comparing to RADARSAT Constellation (just launched by SpaceX) the constellation has a 1 x 3 m spotlight mode with a 20 km swath width. Sub-metre resolution is awesome, as long as you know where your viewing target is.

I always like hearing about expansion of technology; having more resources is good!

I'm impressed by the technology, I'm not impressed with the results, at least as it would apply to my work.

In New Jersey, we're licensing EagleView‎'s "Pictometry" for regulatory work. (Isometric views from 4 directions taken from low level flyovers.) In addition we do State contracts for periodic natural and infrared Statewide flyovers at 1ft. resolution. We also are processing LIDAR flyovers periodically.

Aircraft data has always been a threat to satellite data. The trick on the business side has been making the case for global coverage and refresh. There's just some places you won't want to fly a plane. Or can't afford to fly a plane.Sounds like for your use case, aircraft are the better solution - sounds like you know that. There are other uses cases and $$ out there.

I'm impressed by the technology, I'm not impressed with the results, at least as it would apply to my work.

In New Jersey, we're licensing EagleView‎'s "Pictometry" for regulatory work. (Isometric views from 4 directions taken from low level flyovers.) In addition we do State contracts for periodic natural and infrared Statewide flyovers at 1ft. resolution. We also are processing LIDAR flyovers periodically.

Aircraft data has always been a threat to satellite data. The trick on the business side has been making the case for global coverage and refresh. There's just some places you won't want to fly a plane. Or can't afford to fly a plane.Sounds like for your use case, aircraft are the better solution - sounds like you know that. There are other uses cases and $$ out there.

sweet, when is the pass over Area 51 coming? so we know where all the landmines are buried?

Nah, nothing will stop the storm Seriously, is this still a thing?

Seriously? No. As a joke? For another few weeks, yes.

Although apparently becoming serious enough that there's been pictures or short videos on Twitter of somewhere having to do briefings to security/military about whatever that "event" is. First I heard of it was when a friend showed me that on their phone.

The military would be utterly stupid to not at least consider reactions to the threat of some group--however amorphous--invading a base. If nothing else, it helps avoid some guard panicking and opening fire.

A little planning can go a long way. Maybe even as simple as beefing up the guard contingent and issuing less-legal gear to the extras.

I suspect it will boil down to a couple or three dozen people intending to charge the base, and several dozen news crews and random people there to see what happens.

Gonna be far more people lost in the desert and possibly dieing than ever get to the gates.

sweet, when is the pass over Area 51 coming? so we know where all the landmines are buried?

On a serious note, would sufficient advances of this technology allow for land mine detection? This could seriously change the world if possible. There is still an incredible amount of live land mines throughout the world, including developed countries in Europe.

Yes. its possible. But you have to be closer. Current systems that do it are on airplanes flying around 10,000 feet and even then its not 100% accurate.

sweet, when is the pass over Area 51 coming? so we know where all the landmines are buried?

Nah, nothing will stop the storm Seriously, is this still a thing?

Seriously? No. As a joke? For another few weeks, yes.

Although apparently becoming serious enough that there's been pictures or short videos on Twitter of somewhere having to do briefings to security/military about whatever that "event" is. First I heard of it was when a friend showed me that on their phone.

The military would be utterly stupid to not at least consider reactions to the threat of some group--however amorphous--invading a base. If nothing else, it helps avoid some guard panicking and opening fire.

A little planning can go a long way. Maybe even as simple as beefing up the guard contingent and issuing less-legal gear to the extras.

I suspect it will boil down to a couple or three dozen people intending to charge the base, and several dozen news crews and random people there to see what happens.

Gonna be far more people lost in the desert and possibly dieing than ever get to the gates.

A friend of mine was joking about this - until I actually sat him down and used Google Maps to show him the overall scale and emptiness of the place - I don't think many Europeans understand that level of nothingness.

A friend of mine was joking about this - until I actually sat him down and used Google Maps to show him the overall scale and emptiness of the place - I don't think many Europeans understand that level of nothingness.